Math can sometimes seem like a bunch of confusing numbers and letters. But every once in a while, someone solves a puzzle that’s been around for decades—sometimes even over a hundred years!

That’s exactly what happened recently, and people in the math world are pretty excited.

It all starts with something called the Kakeya conjecture. A “conjecture” is a math guess—an idea that seems true, but nobody has proven it yet. The Kakeya problem is about figuring out the smallest area in which you can turn a needle (or a really thin stick) in every possible direction.

Sounds simple, right? But it’s not. This question has stumped smart people since the early 1900s.

A mathematician named Hong Wang, who teaches at NYU’s Courant Institute, might have cracked part of the puzzle. Along with her co-author Joshua Zahl from the University of British Columbia, she worked on this problem for years. And now, they’ve come up with a new solution that people are calling a once-in-a-century breakthrough.

Zahl explained:

“I read a book in undergrad called A Panorama of Harmonic Analysis. I read about [the Kakeya conjecture] in that book and really was taken with it… that’s how the interest really started.”

What Makes This So Cool?

What’s interesting is that this problem doesn’t look hard at first. It’s just about rotating a line around in a small space. But the math behind it gets wild really fast.

For over 100 years, mathematicians have been arguing about how small that area could be. Most thought the answer had something to do with dimensions and shapes that are hard to picture—way more complex than anything you’d see in a regular classroom.

What Wang and Zahl did was use advanced math techniques (like “multilinear Kakeya inequalities”—say that five times fast!) to prove something new about the problem that no one had shown before. Their work hasn’t been peer-reviewed yet (that’s when other math experts double-check everything), but many people in the field are already calling it a massive deal.

According to Eyal Lubetzky, chair of the math department where Wang works, the proof is “one of the top mathematical achievements of the 21st century.”

So… Why Should You Care?

Okay, so maybe you’re not obsessed with geometry or math theories—and that’s fine. But breakthroughs like this are important. Solving these deep math mysteries often leads to new technology, better computer systems, or even ideas that help us understand the universe better.

Plus, it shows how powerful curiosity can be. Wang and Zahl stuck with a problem that looked unsolvable for years. They read about it, learned everything they could, and finally made real progress.

Even if math isn’t your thing, there’s something inspiring about that. They followed something that interested them and didn’t give up. And now, the whole world is talking about their work.

That is quite an accomplishment.

If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.